Torchwood And Sarah Jane Adventures Producer Takes Top Seat At The Doctor Who Table

The BBC have announced that sometime Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures producer Brian Minchin has been appointed Executive Producer of Doctor Who. He issued a statement:

I’m thrilled and excited to be joining Steven Moffat on a show that has meant so much to me over the years. I’ve watched in awe as Steven has taken Doctor Who to wild and imaginative places and I can’t wait to get started on many more adventures with the Doctor.

Meanwhile, Steven Moffat has said:

When I first took over Doctor Who, Brian was there as script editor, and in the most difficult time of a new Doctor and a new era, was completely brilliant. We lost him to producing The Sarah Jane Adventures at the end of our first run. Rising talent keeps rising, is how I comforted myself back then — but now I am beyond happy that Brian has risen all the way back to Doctor Who, in his new role of Executive Producer. I look forward to getting hopelessly lost in space and time with him.

Cue my inevitable comment on how Moffat’s first year was head and shoulders above the rest.

Minchin’s first episode in the new role will be the Christmas special – where, as rumours persist, we’ll also be getting our first look at the next Doctor. Maybe. Perhaps.

Minchin has worked as a script editor on Who before, and he’s currently Executive Producing The Game, Toby Whithouse‘s new cold war thriller.

Which will be useful when – as more rumours also persist – Whithouse gets the nod to take over from Moffat as Who’s head writer. Again maybe. Again perhaps.

So, there we have it. One actual official Doctor Who announcement and two never-resting and possibly entirely spurious rumours that keep clogging up my inbox and Twitter feed.